Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 01-05-2014, 09:21 AM:

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 2
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital Cinema/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: A negative is missing. Wackiness ensues.

Walter Mitty works for Life Magazine, which has been sold and is being turned into an efficient online only publication. Staffers are being laid off by a stereotypically dickish asshole throughout the movie.

The movie surrounds a negative sheet sent to Walter by their signature photographer (yes, he still uses film). He states "Negative 25" is what they'll want to use for Life's final published cover. Except Negative 25 isn't on the sheet. Oops. So Walter, who is known for "zoning out" several times a day while daydreaming of wild adventures and dating hot co-workers, goes on some actual wild adventures to track down the photographer. On his own dime, unbeknownst to the company. And while being constantly pestered by a customer service rep at e-harmony, who manages to call Walter regularly in places where Walter's cell phone shouldn't remotely have coverage.

My biggest problem is that I figured out immediately where the negative was, so I spent most of the time during the adventures thinking about what a fucking idiot Walter Mitty is.

Still, it's beautifully shot, and the Lite FM audience seemed to think it was really something special. As cinematic fluff goes, it's pretty good.

As a side note, this is apparently a remake. Danny Kaye starred in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in 1947. I might have to catch up on that.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 01-06-2014, 06:20 PM:

quote: Sam Graham
My biggest problem is that I figured out immediately where the negative was, so I spent most of the time during the adventures thinking about what a fucking idiot Walter Mitty is.

Hmm... And I thought it was one of the core concepts of the movie. [Razz]

A bit like Columbo, alas less obvious... you know who the killer is right from the start. But I guess the movie actually works quite well either way.

quote: Sam Graham
And while being constantly pestered by a customer service rep at e-harmony, who manages to call Walter regularly in places where Walter's cell phone shouldn't remotely have coverage.

I'm going slightly off-topic here, but it's often quite astonishing were you have cellphone coverage nowadays. In third world countries they often don't have fresh water, but better cell phone coverage than I have at home... Even in the desert in Jordan, Egypt and the likes, I had 3G coverage about a year and a half ago and my business mail kept hunting me all the way, until I turned it off...

quote: Sam Graham
As a side note, this is apparently a remake. Danny Kaye starred in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" in 1947. I might have to catch up on that.

I also never watched the original, but since I liked the remake, I will give it a try once I get hold of a copy.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 01-10-2014, 11:08 AM:

I think the multiple trailers gave way too much away. Even I figured out what the missing picture was. The movie looked like something you'd see playing on a tv at a Eddie Bauer store. Sure it looked good and the soundmix was inventive and fun, but the story was p-r-e-dictable.

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 05-20-2014, 09:20 AM:

I thought this movie was going to be different than what it was. I enjoyed it as I finally got to see it on bluray.

The movie is one of Ben Stillers better films to date and it might just be his best film. Kristen Wiig was good and so where the the supporting cast. I also liked the cinematography and the sound mix which was superb for a home video release.

A few Oscar nominations should of been in Walter Mitty's favor.

Posted by Jeff Taylor (Member # 443) on 05-20-2014, 11:36 AM:

Sam: Do check out the 1947 Goldwyn Danny Kaye version. Some (most?) films just shouldn't be remade.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-20-2014, 02:47 PM:

This is a movie that I actually watched (not in the theater, but as a Blu-ray rental). It's full of holes and ridiculousness.

Warning: Spoilers follow, but who cares?

-Ben Stiller gets the negative roll. A frame has been cut out. It's missing. Why would Ben Stiller think that Sean Penn still has it especially after specifically telling him that it's awesome? I get that Sean Penn is a woman-beater and an angry drunk, but even he can't be that stupid.

-The product placement in this movie is of the absurd level.

-Ben Stiller jumps in the water yet his phone still works? Even on the top of the Himalayas? Yeah sure I'm an idiot I can buy that one.

-Ben Stiller has a passport. WTF? This man should not have a passport because he's never actually gone anywhere and it was clear that he never really had any strong desire to go anywhere so why would he ever bother to get a passport?

-Ben Stiller flies everywhere willy-nilly like it's no big deal and takes no time at all. Kristen Wiig calls him after he's been in Greenland and Iceland for a couple of days and nobody has noticed that he's gone! She went downstairs to check on him and he wasn't there. Like he went out for coffee or something. Then he flies home with zero jet lag, hangs out for a day or two and easily flies to Afghanistan and back. And he does all of this in two and a half weeks.

-Kristen Wiig is in this movie. She is extremely annoying and I always hated her characters on SNL. She's not annoying here though, but I was really hoping that I would never see her again. My life has been made less pleasant by her very existence.

-I do not buy for even a second that Sean Penn would engage in physical activity like soccer or whatever they were playing. The only physical activity suitable for Sean Penn is the beating of women and maybe yelling.

-How is it that Shirley McClaine is still alive. And why?

-Ben Stiller grows a fairly neat beard in less than, like, a week.

-When Ben Stiller gets back from Greenland/Iceland his coworker is concerned about his fern and grabs it from the moving man. A week later when Ben Stiller gets back from Afghanistan and they're exiting the building, his coworker is still holding that SAME FERN! Why is the coworker even still there? They were moving him out a week ago! Does he just hang around an empty office all day every day with his fern?

I didn't like the stylings of the movie. For example when Ben Stiller gets a text on his still-functioning phone the text appears on the side of a mountain. WHY? That's just dumb and it's like using effects just for the sake of using them. Reminded me of an independent movie made by a 20-something film-school grad that's trying to be hip and cool. But just like those movies, it fails in the process and just comes across as dumb.

I could have been working instead of watching this movie. I would have rather have been working. Now I'm forever 2 hours behind in my work.